Track-cleaner.



No. 866,453. PATENTED SEPT. 17, 1907.

- V w. FRASER.

TRACK CLEANER.

APPLICATION FILED JD!!! 12. 1907.

WILLIAM FRASER, OF SIOUX FALLS, SOUTH DAKOTA.

TRACK-C LE ANE R.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 17, 1907.

Application filed June 12, 1907- Serial No. 378,611.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM FRAsER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Sioux Falls, in the county of Minnehaha, State of South Dakota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Track-Clearers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertai'ns to make and use the same."

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in track clearers, and it has particular reference -to an apparatus of this class constructed to remove snow from narrow cuts and comprising generally a main pipe which conducts any agent for dissipating the snow,

which is preferably air, and a plurality of branch pipes arranged at suitable intervals and formed to receive and deflect the air from the main pipe over the tracks.

In connection with an apparatus constructed generally as above described, the invention aims as a primary object to provide a novel construction, combina tion and arrangement of parts, the details of which will appear in the course of the following description in which reference is had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, like charactersof reference designating similar parts, throughout the several views, wherein the figure is a plan view illustrating diagrammaticallythe equipment of a railroad line with the-apparatus comprehended in the present invention.

Referring specifically to the accompanying drawings, the numeral 1 designates the track, and the numeral 2 designates the ties. Located between the tracks 1 is a pipe 3 which serves as an air conductor and may be as long as a single cut, for instance, six miles,- or as a number of cuts, and the distances therebetween, as for instance, twenty miles. The pipe 3 has connection with a pipe 4 leading from an air pump 5, which may be operated by hand power or by any suitable engine. It is preferred to mount the pump 5 in any suitable power house which it is not deemed necessary to show.

Adjacent each cut the pipe 3 has connection at opposite sides with pipes 6 which extend beneath the rails 1., and which are in turn connected to pipes 7 arranged outside of the tracks in parallelism thereto and pro.- vided with relatively closely associated apertures 8. One of the pipes 7 has its apertures directed towards the adjacent rail, and the other pipe has its apertures directed away from the adjacent rail. The pipes 3 and 7 are held upon the ties 2 by means of clips 9 of suitable construction. The pipes G and 7 are provided in series for each cut as indicated more particularly in Fig. 1.

In use, the air is forced through the pipe 3 and is distributcd by means of the pipe 6 to the pipe 7 from whence it blows directly across the track and clears the snow therefrom, partly by blowing the same to one side and partly by evaporation.

The apparatus embodied in the present invention is simple in its structural details, comparatively inexpensive to manufacture, and practical and efficient in use.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that simple and efiicient means are provided for accomplishing the objects of the invention, but while the elements herein shown and described are well adapted to serve the functions set forth, it is obvious that various minor changes may be made in the proportions, shape and arrangement of the several parts without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

An apparatus of the type set forth, comprising the combination with the track rails, of an air pump, a distributing pipe disposed between said track rails in parallelism thereto, a pipe between said distributing pipe and 

